Modern medical therapies often incorporate the intravenous ("IV") infusion of fluids into a patient. These fluids, which are often referred to as parenteral fluids, can be used to deliver nutrition as well as medicines to the patient. In fact, many treatments use multiple types of fluids, all of which are to be infused into the patient simultaneously.
To achieve simultaneous infusion of liquids from multiple sources, it is common practice to merge the various fluid supply lines into a single infusion line which is inserted into a patient's vein. In this manner the number of infusion sites are minimized, thereby reducing the ever present risk of infection at an infusion site.
The merger of fluids into a single infusion line is typically achieved by using what is referred to as a Y-site connector assembly. The Y-site connector assembly can be considered as two parts; the Y-site itself and a connector. As the name implies, a Y-site is Y-shaped and has two inputs which are merged into a single output. As can be appreciated, through the use of multiple Y-sites, any number of lines can eventually be merged into a single line. When the merger of fluids is desired, an infusion line is connected to the output of the Y-site and the supply lines providing the fluids to be merged are each connected to one of the Y-site inputs.
Modern Y-site connector assemblies are designed to allow fluid supply lines to be connected and disconnected according to the desired treatment protocols. With the connection and disconnection of lines, not only is there a risk of loosing fluid, there is also the risk of introducing infection producing contaminants. Normally, these risks are minimized by using a contaminant barrier which covers the secondary input to the Y-site when it is not connected to a fluid supply line. These barriers are typically a pierceable seal which covers the Y-site input opening and which are known in the industry as septums. With this type of Y-site, the connector requires a cannula which is able to pierce and/or cross the contaminant barrier.
Another problem which is common for Y-sites is that the connections at the Y-site inputs can accidentally become disconnected. This can, and often does occur when the patient moves and causes tension or pulling on the infusion line. If medical personnel are present when the connection is disconnected, it is possible that reconnection can be easily achieved with minimal disruption in the fluid infusion. On the other hand, if personnel are not present, the disconnected fluid line can go unnoticed for substantial periods of time.
It is desirable to minimize inadvertent disconnection of the lines of an infusion set for several reasons. First, for many patients it is critical that they receive an even and uninterrupted flow rate for the infusion of medicaments. This is extremely critical where the infused medicaments are potentially toxic and need to be controlled. Normally, for such a situation the rate of fluid flow of medicines to the patient must be carefully maintained in a narrow range. Disrupting the steady infusion under these circumstances can in some instances be life threatening because even short disruptions may result in the reduction of the amounts of medicines in the patient to life-threatening levels. Second, many medicaments are extremely expensive, and allowing them to be wasted unnecessarily increases the already high costs of medical treatments.
To prevent the accidental disconnection of the IV supply line at the Y-site, locking Y-site connector assemblies have been developed. For example see U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,292 which is entitled "Medical Connector" and issued to Lopez, et al. A common drawback of the previously known locking connectors such as the device disclosed by Lopez et al., is that they require dedicated features on both the connector as well as the Y-site. This means that unless both the Y-site and the connector have matching interlocking features, the locking mechanism is non-functional. As recognized by the present invention, this lack of functionality can be avoided.
In light of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a locking connector assembly for inter-connecting fluid tubes. It is another object of the present invention to provide a locking connector assembly for connecting a fluid supply line to a medical Y-site. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a connector assembly which includes a locking mechanism on the fluid line connector which is not dependent on a dedicated feature of the Y-site. Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a locking connector that is relatively easy to manufacture and is comparatively economical.